Steven A. Brass Acquires 432 Shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Stock

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) CEO Steven A. Brass bought 432 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $232.22 per share, for a total transaction of $100,319.04. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,771,424.34. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

WD-40 Trading Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ WDFC opened at $229.85 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $253.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $241.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of 45.88 and a beta of -0.06. WD-40 has a 12 month low of $181.38 and a 12 month high of $278.78.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $139.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.51 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 12.19% and a return on equity of 32.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that WD-40 will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. WD-40’s payout ratio is 70.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WD-40

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 7.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,928 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,117,000 after buying an additional 1,991 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 3.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,249 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 5.4% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,069 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 5.3% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 13,825 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,533,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 57.7% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 7,416 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 2,713 shares during the period. 91.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $313.00 price target on shares of WD-40 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th.

WD-40 Company Profile

WD-40 Company develops and sells maintenance products, and homecare and cleaning products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides multi-purpose maintenance products that include aerosol sprays, non-aerosol trigger sprays, precision pens, and in liquid-bulk form products under the WD-40 Multi-Use brand name; specialty maintenance products, such as penetrants, degreasers, corrosion inhibitors, greases, lubricants, and rust removers under the WD-40 Specialist brand; and bike-specific products.